A Spotify playlist for Alan Light's book on the song 'Hallelujah'

By Jim Higgins of the Journal Sentinel

Published on: 12/4/2012

In his new book "The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of ‘Hallelujah’ (Atria)," Alan Light traces the evolution of Leonard Cohen's song from 1984 album track to one of the pop fixtures of our time.

In an interview published at the fabulous Cohen fansite 1heckofaguy.com, Light expressed his hope for the book this way:

"Hopefully, (readers) will learn the story of a song that has a trajectory unlike any other I know of, a genuine modern standard that took several decades and numerous unexpected paths to attain an international audience and become a true anthem."

I'm writing about the book for this Sunday's Cue section (and Tapmilwaukee.com, of course). In the meantime, I've made a Spotify playlist of some of the many performances of "Hallelujah" that Light discusses. Since he makes the point that the late Jeff Buckley's version is the most popular and influential, it leads the playlist.